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Senators suffer another loss, and another injury on defense

Toronto Maple Leafs v Ottawa Senators

OTTAWA, ON - FEBRUARY 6: Cody Ceci #5 of the Ottawa Senators skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Canadian Tire Centre on February 6, 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

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Not only did the Ottawa Senators lose on Saturday, coughing up three unanswered goals in a 4-2 defeat against Winnipeg, but they lost yet another defenseman to injury.

This time, it was Cody Ceci leaving the game with a lower-body injury.

According to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia, Ceci will not play Monday when the Senators visit the Detroit Red Wings.

The Senators entered this game without their star blue liner Erik Karlsson and defenseman Marc Methot, who suffered that gruesome finger injury on a slash from Sidney Crosby.

Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos provided an update on Methot Saturday:

“This is a little over a week now -- his finger has not progressed fast enough. The process is slow here. The whole idea of the surgery was to save the finger. I’m told he will not play again this season until they are 100 per cent sure that the finger is out of danger. Right now, they can’t say that. Maybe by mid-week, we will have an official update from the Ottawa Senators.”

Based on reports Saturday, it appears Karlsson could soon return to the Senators lineup, even though he was sent home from this road trip.

“We thought it was better. Erik is day-to-day so he could come (back) at any moment,” said coach Guy Boucher, per the Ottawa Sun.

“You never know, it could be Monday, it could be Tuesday, it could be Thursday. We just made sure that he was in the best environment to get the best treatment. For him, he’s in rehab right now and you want focus on the rehab so that’s what we did with him and [Zack Smith].”

Getting Karlsson back as soon as possible would be a huge development for the Senators, who have only two wins in their last 10 games and have slipped to third in the Atlantic Division, one point up on the Bruins in the final wild card spot, with five games remaining on their schedule.

Despite an overtime loss tonight, the Tampa Bay Lightning are also still alive in the playoff race.

“We knew it was our toughest part of the year, the last week-and-a-half, two weeks,” said Boucher. “We knew that was coming but we didn’t think we were going to have that many guys injured, especially three of our top four defensemen. That’s tough to manage.”

Related: Sens hold team meeting after ugly defeat in Minnesota